Film Review: Nowhere to Run (1993)

Jean-Claude Van Damme was trying very hard to show himself as something more than martial arts expert or action star, but most such efforts had predictable lack of success. This includes Nowhere to Run, 1993 action drama directed by Robert Harmon.

In the film Van Damme plays Sam Gillen, convicted armed robber who manages to escape from prison bus with the help of his former partner Billy (played by Anthony Starke). Billy dies in the mayhem and Sam, who got the money from their last job, is trying to keep low profile and evade authorities. A good location for that seems to be pond near the farm owned by Clydie Anderson (played by Rosanna Arquette), beautiful widow who lives her two children – Mookie (played by Kieran Culkin) and his sister Bree (played by Tiffany Taubman). Sam befriends Mookie and later takes Clydie’s offer to sleep in her barn. Widow is not only attracted to mysterious stranger, but also thankful for his presence when she learns about his martial arts skills, displayed against thugs hired by Franklin Hale (played by Joss Ackland), ruthless property developer who wants to obtain her farm by any means necessary.

Nowhere to Run is one of those films that, based on the names involved, had great potential. Script, inspired by classic western Shane, was originally developed by Joe Eszterhas, at the time the best-paid and most successful screenwriter in Hollywood. Director Robert Harmon, best known for stylish action horror film The Hitcher, had more than decent budget at his disposal, and the film was the first one in Van Damme’s career directly produced by major Hollywood studio. Unfortunately, the high production values proved to be film’s undoing. Nowhere to Run was simply overproduced, while high budget suffocated creativity that could have worked for cheaper film. As a result, audience is presented with series of cliches and Hollywood formula, which is too manipulative even for less experienced filmgoers. Widow is played by Rosanna Arquette who looks a little bit too glamorous for this film and her thankless role (which involves some nudity) is further downgraded with obvious lack of chemistry with Van Damme. Producers also wanted to add some cheap sentimentality by pairing protagonist with cute little child, here played by Kieran Culkin (cast probably because his brother Macaulay, then at height of his popularity, was too expensive). But the worst are performances of otherwise good characters actor Joss Ackland and Ted Levine (who plays Hale’s henchman) who are forced to go over the top in their onedimensional roles of villains. The main problem is, however, Van Damme’s limited acting ability which is too obvious thanks to film’s lack of action scenes, despite its short running time. Van Damme is, as you might expect, good in action scenes, but they are simply too far and too in between for this film to be recommended to anyone but his most devout fans.

RATING: 4/10 (+)

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